I talk honestly and openly about my experiences with mental illness, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome through the lens of feminism, fat acceptance and process theology. I also do recipe and book reviews. My mission is to spread the message that hope is always real for a better life, despite living in a world that is often very harsh.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

More Recovery Poetry AND I Can Finally Say I Am Published!

I am really proud of myself! The Nami Gwinnett newsletter just came out and on page ten were six of my poems! Of course, it would be nice to be paid for my work, but still, any recognition is better than none and knowing that the people I submitted my work to valued it enough to publish them gives me hope that another publisher might too. Three of the poems are ones that I have previously posted here - both of the ones on February 14th and the poem entitled, "Do Not Believe the Lie" on August 28. Here are the other three:

Failure

FailureIs just a word away.A refusalTo arise in the morning,A complacencyWhen the sun is not shining;

When war storms through my door,Failure is just the failureto make another mistake.

(I wanted to picture failure, w/out being depressing. Did it work?!)

The Phoenix

Don't label my lifewith a FinallyDon't tell methat the light is at theEnd.

For the light is continuous-There is no finally.Life carries on after death-An eternal renewal.What Works

The meds do not work.

Because the meds do not listen.They don’t hold our hand-They do not care.

The meds do not work-At least-not enough!

What does work?LOVE!And I can feel it here,And I can feel it now-It is enough.(Click on the image to read the article, "Love as Medicine" by David Simon, a doctor who writes about "listening for the underlying story" behind his patients' pain.)

1 comment:

This is really interesting. I am finishing a graduate studies project and am borrowing your phoenix picture to symbolize transformation. I like the blog. If you would like to talk more, email me kellybook81@yahoo.com

About Me

I'm a fierce smashing-the-patriarchy Christian feminist spreading the word that hope is real for people with mental health and chronic pain challenges. I do NAMI In Our Own Voice presentations, endorse Dialectical Behavioral Therapy(DBT) and baking cupcakes. I am in recovery from borderline personality disorder, an eating disorder and bipolar II. I work on managing my anxiety. I consider myself living in recovery, because mental illness and chronic pain no longer control my life.
If you would like me to speak to your organization about living in recovery from mental illness, please email me.